Favorite Tech Purchase This Year [so far]

I've read many reviews about this particular scanner and have been hoping prices would come down but after getting crowded in my temporary living accommodations with too many documents, I broke down and bought one (I'm still cheap, I waited until a sizable rebate came around). It's the Fujitsu ScanSnap S510. It's a document feeder scanner that automatically turns your papers into PDF files on your computer. It's small (footprint about the size of a sheet of legal paper), fast, reliable, and the included software is quite good. It even comes with Adobe Acrobat Professional v. 8. It handles up to 50 pages of documents at a time in its feeder and you can even instruct it to do optical character recognition (OCR) on the scanned items and it will turn it into searchable text.



I've been able to take all the torn magazine pages, bills and statements, and any other loose bit of paper and turn them all into PDFs. I would like for the OCR software to be a little faster but I'm otherwise totally satisfied with the ScanSnap. If you're looking for an easy way to go paperless (or really, to get rid of papers), this is the most efficient way for a home user or even a single station small or medium-sized business. Be sure to shop around for the best price and look for rebates--they are frequently out there so with judicious shopping and a rebate you can save well over $100 off the $499 retail price.

Before the ScanSnap I was using a Canon MF870 ink jet printer/fax/scanner (with document feeder) but as a printer, it's too expensive to operate (ink costs, you know), slow on the scanning and jams frequently, and it's HUGE. So, I'll use the ScanSnap and a small 1000 series HP laser printer and I'm good!